Five Quick Ways to Estimate Your Home's Value

Home values change pretty quickly, which makes it tricky to get an accurate home value estimate without a professional. Whether you're thinking about selling in the future or just curious, there are ways to find out the value of your home in a less official manner.

5 Methods for Calculating Your Home Value Without an Official Appraisal

Ask a Real Estate Agent

A real estate agent familiar with your neighborhood can give you a reasonable estimate of your home’s value. You may even consider getting several estimates from various agents for an even more accurate assessment.

Hire an Independent Appraiser

If you’re selling, buying or refinancing, an appraiser has likely come out to review your home. But did you know that you can hire one independently?

As an independent, they can calculate a fair value without any outside pressures. Although not typical, banks sometimes put pressure causing appraisers to have an overly critical eye. With this unbiased outside opinion, you can feel more confident about how much they say your house is worth.

Compare Recent Home Sales

One of the ways that appraisers determine the value of a home is to review sales of similar properties sold recently. These are called “comparables.” We recommend comparing the prices of properties that have sold within the past six months and within one mile of your home.

Use the Internet

The internet is a great place to see what homes are selling for in your neighborhood or what they have recently sold for. Some real estate sites even have online tools for assessing your property’s value by just inputting your address.

Cruise Your Neighborhood for Open Houses

Take a Sunday afternoon to check out your local open houses and see what they are going for. You can also ask the real estate agent questions about what other homes have sold for in the neighborhood or their opinion of the demand for housing in that area. They can also give you insight into the recent upgrades that the current homeowner did to help raise the value of the home.

If nothing else, you'll get ideas for ways you can upgrade your home either for reselling or just for personal satisfaction.

Combine several of these methods, and you’ll get a pretty good idea of what others are willing to pay for your home. Thinking about selling? Besides knowing how much you can get for your home, it’s also important to know how much you can afford for your next one.